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As part of the 67th Philippi Festival, the CLEAR Kavalas performs on Monday, July 22nd and Tuesday, July 23rd at 9:30 p.m. Cavala Fortresshis second own production, the play “Inside and outside the walls” in Kostas Papakonstantinou.
We had the pleasure of talking to the Greek director.
Give us a taste of everything the audience will enjoy at the show?
“The title is a paraphrase of the book “Outside the Walls” by Vassilis Vassilikos. The performance is based on an idea taken from the short story “The Trunk”. Two actors find a trunk in the middle of the stage and begin to rummage through its contents. They begin a game of fantasy, looking for clues, phrases and objects to invent heroes and heroines from the past and tell their stories. The poem “Introduction” by V. Vassilikos introduces us to the main story of the performance, which is the short story “My Friend Ino” from the collection of short stories “The Rebetes and Other Stories”. On the day he leaves for Auschwitz, Ino, the author’s childhood friend, asks his friend to take care of his house until he returns. The two children cannot imagine the unimaginable and hope that this trip will bring a quick return.
The play addresses a taboo subject for Greek society, which has to do with Jewish property and its looting by the Nazis and local mafias during and after the end of the war.”
What made you accept the artistic director’s proposal and direct for the city of Kavala?
“First of all, I would like to thank artistic director Eva Vamvaka Oikonomou, and I appreciate the fact that she proposed to me without being a friend, simply because she appreciates my work. Kavala is a beloved city and the tribute to Vassilis Vasilikos was an excellent opportunity to delve a little deeper into his work.”
Both your show and other DIPETHE Kavala productions are not performed on a conventional theater stage. Was that a challenge for you?
“The open space in summer has a charm. It’s nice to play with the sky ceiling. This summer I played in the castle of Lamia and now our concert will be in the fortress of Kavala. I feel a bit like a knight artist!”
The play “The Kalpides”, which you directed in the spring at the Bellos Theatre, was a great success. With this work you returned to a type of theatre that distinguished you from the beginning in theatrical events and that concerned the method of dramatizing literary texts. Working now on the work of Vassilis Vassilikos, have you discovered anything that you had not imagined about his writing?
“”Oi Kalpides” by Stratis Mirivilis will be repeated next year at the Olvio Theater, as will “Father of War” by Iakovos Campanellis. These are the two productions of our theater group “Ptochalazones” this year, both of which performed excellently.
In terms of directing, I have worked a lot with literary texts and I think Kalpides perfectly sums up all the research work we have done with the team on dramatizing literature. In V. Vasilikos, I like the way he writes and approaches his themes, how he mixes fiction with the factual elements of history. Also impressive is the frankness, boldness and clarity of his content.”
When you watch your performances, you will find very few works by foreign authors. Do you prefer Greek authors? Do you feel more artistically intimate?
“I didn’t think about it. Obviously, it’s easier for me to find these texts. Maybe the fact that there’s no translation involved makes them more direct for me. However, I have uploaded works by foreign authors. Certainly, I’m interested in Greek texts that help us understand our social present within its historical trajectory, that is, they look to the past to understand how we got to today.”
What are your plans for the new season?
“”Kalpides” and “O Babas o Polemos” at the Olvio theater for the 2nd year, my classes at the Piraeus Association theater school and the 5-month acting seminar I will do this year for the 4th year. And we are waiting for the announcement from the Ministry of Culture about next year’s theater scholarships.”
FACTORS:
Directed by: Kostas Papakonstantinou
Stages/Lighting: Vassilis Apostolatos
Music editing: Vassilis Koutsilieris
Costumes and props: Filanthi Bougatsou
DISTRIBUTION: Elena Stavrou, Marianna Dirou
“Inside and outside the walls” by Kostas Papakonstantinou
Cavala Fortress
Monday, 22nd and Tuesday, 23rd July, 9:30pm
Ticket Prices: Regular: €10, Reduced: €8
Online pre-sale: https://www.ticketservices.gr/event/fortress-kavala-entos-kai-ektos-ton-teixon/
Entry to the venue is prohibited after the show has started.
Pre-sale at the Visitor Information Centre of the Municipality of Kavala (former EOT) Central Square, tel: 2510-620566, daily from Tuesday 16 July (10:00 – 14:00 and 18:00 – 21:00) while on the days of the show pre-sale at the box office of the event venue from 19:30.
For more information you can call DI.PE.THE. Kavalas 2510. 220876 (10:00-14:00).